AMD

AMD has (or had) great individual contributors - engineers, MTS, etc. For engineers, it's easy to stand out by leading initiatives independently. If management was supportive, these guys could churn out products to beat Intel. However, frequent roadmap changes lead to products being canceled, which causes dissatisfaction.

There is a great work-life balance. The office is almost empty after 6 p.m., and no one cares about what time you come in as long as you get the work done.

• There is no long-term plan by management. Everyone misses Dirk Meyer.
• Reorganizations happen almost every year, and layoffs happen once in 15 months.
• A lot of the mid-senior managers are unqualified.
• Bonuses are rare.
• The software division is treated as expendable, even though there are a lot of really great engineers there. There are lots of politics among the senior managers.

Get rid of the useless managers instead of the engineers. This company is just a shadow of the AMD of 2005-06. Also, stop with the useless acquisitions and splits that cost a lot of dollars, which would be better used for creating products.